In the Middle of the Night
by Loopstagirl
Summary: Sometimes, there is only so much a person can take. Rated for darker themes.


**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing!**

**Laurie-Yalen, this is the quickest I've ever turned around a challenge. So there! :P**

**Based on the lyrics to the amazing song, In the Middle of the Night by Within Temptation, which I own nothing of either. And yep, you guessed it, it was another challenge.**

Scott stared down at his brothers. John had his arm around Alan, gripping the younger man's shirt with a fierce intensity as he tried to control his own emotions. Nothing could control it though. Nothing could make the scene in front of them look any better. Pain filled eyes met Virgil's from where his brother was crouched, and something in Scott snapped.

He couldn't feel anything. It was like he was numb. The Hood had won. Gordon was gone. What was left was not their brother, just an empty shell. But despite the fact that Alan was shaking almost uncontrollably as he begged their brother to come back, Scott just stared. Fire was alight in his eyes as he turned away from the sight, ice freezing his blood and making him think clearly.

Vengeance.

That was the only thing he could think of. He began to slowly walk away, not hearing Virgil call after him. There was only one thing that was going to make the pain harder to bear, and that was when he showed the Hood that he had just played his last card. The man had been playing them for too long, messing with their minds as he fed them clues about where he was, what he was doing. And all along he had just been goading them into acting, knowing they wouldn't have been able to resist the chance to have him locked up for good. But what hurt Scott more was that he had fallen for it. He had led his brothers into the chase, filled with an optimism that for once, they might just be able to win.

He was a fool. He should have known the Hood would have been expecting it, predicting their actions. He had been waiting for them. Feeding the boys enough of the truth so that they knew this was it, the final moment where they could confront their enemy. Scott knew he should have been more alert. He had almost been in some form of denial that this could go wrong, determined that he was going to rid the family of the shadow that had been hanging over them for too long. He hadn't been able to accept the plan was going wrong even when he heard Virgil scream a warning, yelling at them to get out. There was still time, they would still be able to take out the Hood.

But he had been wrong. There hadn't been the time to take out the man, not until he had taken out Gordon. A coward's way out, one single shot in the back. A lucky shot in the dark. It was that sound that had frozen Scott. Shut out all other senses as his mind refused to acknowledge any other emotion apart from getting back at the man who had done this.

He had moved away from the rest of the family now, the fire still burning in his eyes as he set about trying to locate the Hood. But it wasn't long before Virgil and John suddenly fell into step beside him, the same fiery anger burning out of them. Scott knew he wouldn't be doing this alone. They had shut their eyes to the true threat the Hood was posing, and it had cost them. But unlike Alan, Scott knew Gordon's two other older brothers were feeling the same way as him. There would be no tears, not until the Hood had paid.

Nothing was said between the brothers as they began searching for their enemy. Their lives had just been shattered, torn apart in a way that none of them could properly comprehend. Scott knew he had just lost control of everything he had tried to always hold back. The Air-Force had shown him how to kill, and he intended to make good of that training for the first time in his life. Everything was wrong, the world, the whole situation. It was like it had all gone astray somewhere on the way, their perfectly formed plan. And the brothers knew exactly who was to blame.

Through the darkened streets they roamed. The Hood wouldn't be afraid of them yet, he never was. But by the time they had finished, he would be. A red dawn would be breaking when this night was over. Blood had been spilt, and right now, walking through the back streets in the middle of the night, the Tracys were determined that it wasn't only going to be their brother's.

***whistles through gritted teeth*. Okaaaay...never done that dark before.**


End file.
